Easy turkey burger recipe
Love burgers but on a health kick? Try our turkey burger recipe out at home – it's a healthier alternative to McDonald's and so cheap, costing around £1 a portion.
Credit: Ivanna Pavliuk – Shutterstock
It might not come from the prettiest bird on the planet, but turkey meat is seriously underrated. It boasts a whole range of health benefits and, like its less-ugly cousin, the chicken, it's usually pretty affordable too.
Turkey is also the perfect healthy substitute for beef when making a burger, as it contains less salt, and far more protein and calcium than your regular beef burger.
Of course, this also means you can feel less guilty about all the extra cheese and toppings you throw on it.
Simple turkey burger recipe
Ingredients
Serves: 4 | Cost: £4.49* excluding extra herbs/spices (£1.12 per serving) | Time taken: 20–30 mins
- 500g of turkey mince (£2.65)
- Half a brown onion (grated or finely chopped) (£0.06)
- 1 egg (£0.25)
- Burger buns (optional) (£0.80)
- Half an iceberg lettuce (£0.35)
- 1 tomato (£0.15)
- 4 cheese slices (£0.22)
- Touch of salt and pepper (£0.01)
- Any additional herbs/spices you'd like to use (optional).
Method
- Grate or dice your onion into small pieces.
- Put turkey mince and chopped onions into a large(ish) bowl. At this point, you can also add any herbs or spices that you'd like. We used a few, including mustard powder and celery salt, but you can use whatever you fancy or have around the kitchen – or you could buy some in advance.
- Crack an egg into the bowl. This will help the meat bind together with the onion so the burgers don't fall apart.
- Give the mixture a good squidge around to mix it. Add salt and pepper (after washing the eggy meat off your hands with soapy water!).
- Once it's well mixed, divide the mixture in half, then half again to get four equal portions. Roll them into individual balls and press them down into burger-sized circles.
- Heat a small glug of oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. If you have a non-stick pan (which really is a kitchen essential!), we'd definitely recommend using it here.
- Add the burgers and fry for about 5 minutes each side, or until cooked through. To check that the burgers are thoroughly cooked, cut the biggest patty open in the middle to ensure the meat is no longer pink and that the juices run clear. When they're ready, remove them from the pan and serve them however you like.
The great thing about burgers is you can add whatever toppings and sides you fancy. We served ours with cheese, lettuce and a bit of ketchup, with a side order of curly fries – but feel free to experiment.
Our recipe serves four people, but if it's just you at home, you can always make extra and take it to uni the next day for lunch.
These also freeze really well, just wrap them individually in clingfilm before popping them in the freezer. You can then move them out of the freezer and into the fridge before you head to uni in the morning so they're defrosted by dinner time. Perfect for when you're meal prepping.
Our list of essential kitchen gadgets features a whole host of handy tools that'll help you become a pro in the kitchen.
* Prices were correct at the time of writing (using Tesco.com and Asda.com prices as guidelines).
